United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) on its refugee work in SA; Statelessness Conventions
Published: 11/Nov/2014
Source: Parliamentary Monitoring Group (South Africa)
Minutes of Meeting of Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, 11 November 2014
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) gave a presentation outlining their function and work in South Africa, including their mandate, the people included under their jurisdiction and both the international and South Africa’s national legal framework which governed refugees. Global and continental statistics were given, including numbers of refugees and displaced people, the countries producing refugees, countries to which applications were made and statistics relating solely to South Africa. UNHCR made observations about South African and identified key areas of concern in their refugee and asylum process, including inefficiencies in the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process. They informed the Committee of their current activities in the country and their role in advocacy, coordination and implementation through various partners. They gave their budget and expenditure on each of their implementation partners, and advised Parliament on what they could do to assist in the protection of refugees.
Link to Parliamentary Monitoring Group website.